PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona transportation officials are moving forward with a first-in-the-nation pilot program that will use thermal camera technology to curb the wrong-way driving problem plaguing the state.
The detection system will illuminate a sign that notifies the wrong-way driver and alert authorities. Transportation officials will update message boards along the highway, warning other drivers of a wrong-way vehicle.
The technology will be installed on a 15-mile (24-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 17 in Phoenix, along roadways and ramps. It comes after wrong-way drivers have killed at least eight people in Arizona this year.
Metro Phoenix saw three wrong-way wrecks over about two weeks last month. The two deaths that resulted led Gov. Doug Ducey to urge state agencies to speed up and broaden the thermal camera program.
“I want those cameras implemented as quickly as possible, and expanded to as many areas as possible where they may make a difference and save a life,” Ducey said.